DEM ENDS DEAD BIRD SURVEILLANCE FOR SEASON; REALLOCATES STAFF TO INTENSIFY MOSQUITO TRAPPING

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DEM's WNV/EEE Page

News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462

For Release:	September 11, 2003
Contact:	Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402 Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM ENDS DEAD BIRD SURVEILLANCE FOR SEASON; REALLOCATES STAFF TO INTENSIFY MOSQUITO TRAPPING
Public Thanked for Help in Reporting Dead Birds; No More Calls Needed

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that beginning Friday, September 12, it will forego mapping dead crows and bluejays for the rest of the 2003 mosquito season. Since suspect birds have now been reported statewide, bird surveillance staff members are being reallocated to help conduct intensified mosquito trapping to test for mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis and can therefore no longer respond to dead bird calls. DEM staffers are setting more than 40 mosquito traps several times a week, then sorting the collected mosquitoes into species for testing at the RI Department of Health laboratory.

"The public has been very helpful in aiding our West Nile surveillance and we appreciate it," said 'Alan Gettman, Ph.D., mosquito abatement coordinator for DEM's Division of Agriculture. "However, we do not need any more calls this season." Public response in reporting dead birds to the Department's hotline has been so successful that more than 500 suspect birds from throughout the state have been tallied, indicating that mosquito-borne disease, particularly West Nile Virus to which crows and bluejays are particularly susceptible, is still prevalent state-wide. A small number of those birds were collected and tested, with positive results.

Gettman, suggests that residents dispose of birds by double-bagging them and putting them in their household trash. There is no evidence that birds can transmit West Nile Virus to humans; mosquitoes that bite infected birds and then bite humans are the transmitters. However, as with any dead animal, avoid bare-handed contact of the carcass by using gloves or an inverted bag to place it in the double bag for disposal.

The suspect birds are a useful early-warning indicator of West Nile Virus in the wild, but human health is directly affected only by the bite of an infected mosquito. "West Nile Virus builds up in both mosquito and bird populations as those populations exchange the disease back and forth between themselves: diseased birds infecting mosquitoes, diseased mosquitoes infecting yet more birds. All this takes time," said Malcolm Grant, DEM's Associate Director for Natural Resources Management. By this time in the season, risk of infection is at peak.

In addition to high numbers of suspect birds, and several West Nile positive test results, two horses have tested positive for EEE and test results on a third horse with suspected EEE are pending.

"It is important that people state-wide continue to take precautions against mosquito bites until the end of the mosquito season, which does not occur until the first hard frost in late October," Grant said. "People should routinely use mosquito repellent, and cover up when mosquito biting activity is greatest, particularly from dusk to dawn, place mosquito netting over playpens and carriages outside, and be sure that screens are in good repair."

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